Rescued a bearded dragon - concerned for its health!

[Lowennas]

So I work in veterinary, and we had a bearded dragon handed into us that was 'found' in someone's garden.. I have many bearded dragons myself and lots of reptile experience but never have I nursed an extremely poorly bearded dragon before. He has seen a vet, who thinks he's very underweight and cold. So I took him home to a spare viv with a basking bulb and UV light and set it up ready for him. I try keep him under the heat but he drags his limp body away every time. I've been giving him fluid injections and oral fluids too as per advised by the vet. It's been 3 days now and there has been no improvement, he still hides away from the heat and is not interested in food at all. He barely keeps his eyes open for longer than a few seconds.

He's since gone back to the vets and told me to start syringing critical care formula into him, which he dislikes and has bitten me.. Has anyone any experience with nursing them? What things can occur in a bearded dragon that's been in the wild for unknown amount of time? What health implications occur from that? He looks extremely skinny.. and I can see his shoulder blades also.

I have attached some photos to see his current condition.

p.s. hes named Colin.

 

[KarrieRee]

So I work in veterinary, and we had a bearded dragon handed into us that was 'found' in someone's garden.. I have many bearded dragons myself and lots of reptile experience but never have I nursed an extremely poorly bearded dragon before. He has seen a vet, who thinks he's very underweight and cold. So I took him home to a spare viv with a basking bulb and UV light and set it up ready for him. I try keep him under the heat but he drags his limp body away every time. I've been giving him fluid injections and oral fluids too as per advised by the vet. It's been 3 days now and there has been no improvement, he still hides away from the heat and is not interested in food at all. He barely keeps his eyes open for longer than a few seconds.

He's since gone back to the vets and told me to start syringing critical care formula into him, which he dislikes and has bitten me.. Has anyone any experience with nursing them? What things can occur in a bearded dragon that's been in the wild for unknown amount of time? What health implications occur from that? He looks extremely skinny.. and I can see his shoulder blades also.

I have attached some photos to see his current condition.

p.s. hes named Colin.

First lets go over the surface basking temps and how your taking them? NO stick ons they are ambient only -- you want a digital probe thermometer --- 95-100 -- the basking bulb should be a solid clear bright white basking bulb --- Flukers -- Exo Terra Intense or a Arcadia Halogen --- the UVB should be a long tube fixture NO coils please I can recommend 3 good ones -- what are you using now? Please syringe feed him the critical care make it real watery he looks like hes dehydrated -- your UVB and surface basking temps are going critical at this point-- he may not make it but please try and get some of the critical care in him - you may haft to snip the end of the syringe off to keep it from plugging and I would get some help w/ feeding him -- wrap him up in a dish towel like a burrito and pry his mouth open on the side -- you can try using a credit card to do this -- I am not sure what has happened to the dragon out in the wild and I suppose you dont know how long he was in the wild?

 

[xp29]

He looks pretty bad, but I've seen worse. Hydration is the most critical concern at first. If you give him to much food before he gets hydrated it can cause kidney and liver failure. The critical care is a very good option in the beginning. Once he is hydrated hopefully he will start to eat on his own.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

He does look pretty thin & dehydrated, poor thing.
The Critical care is helpful but a lot of them don't seem to like it very much. You can try getting
some chicken or turkey baby food, mixed with a squash or sweet potato baby food. Blend it all
together, with some greens if you can & try to drip it onto his nose to see if he will lick that off.
Which UVB light are you using right now or have you gotten one yet for him?
Since he is pretty dehydrated, go easy on the protein for awhile to be sure his kidneys are working
well.
He might need a minimum basking temperature at first if he isn't used to optimal heating. So try
the 95F lower range to see if you can get him to bask a little bit, then adjust it later on.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie